Hong Kong by Stephen Coonts

questioner, Hu Chiang, who was
    standing in the audience. "The answer to your question,
    Hu, is no. Political freedom and economic freedom are
    of the same coin; they cannot exist independently of
    other."
    [ got thrown out," she told Jake when she unlocked the hotel room door and found him on the balcony reading.
    "I thought you would, sooner or later," he said and i grinned broadly. "Still glad we came?"
    insult to the state. You attempt to destroy that which you do not understand. We have the weapons to smash those who plot evil." He turned toward Callie. "Ignore the provocations of the criminal elements," he ordered peremptorily, closing the discussion. Then he sat heavily and used a cloth to wipe his face.
    Callie was trembling. Although she could speak the language, she felt the strangeness of the culture acutely. She was also worried that she might somehow say something to jeopardize the conference or the people who had invited her.
    "Mr. Hu merely asked my opinion," Callie said, trying to hold her voice steady. "I will answer the question."
    The official's face reddened and his jowls quivered. "Go," he roared at her, half rising from his seat and pointing toward the door. "You insult China with your disrespectful attitude."
    Callie gathered her purse and headed for the door. As she walked she addressed her questioner, Hu Chiang, who was still standing in the audience. "The answer to your question, Mr. Hu, is no. Political freedom and economic freedom are sides of the same coin; they cannot exist independently of each other."
    "I got thrown out," she told Jake when she unlocked the hotel room door and found him on the balcony reading.
    "I thought you would, sooner or later," he said and grinned broadly. "Still glad we came?"
    She slumped on the side of the bed and held her head in her hands.
    Jake put his arms around her. "Hey, I called the consulate. Tiger Cole wants us to come to dinner tomorrow night."
    "I told you so," Callie Grafton said through her tears, then tried to smile.
    Removing the tape player that would play the miniature tape he had taken from China Bob's library from the tech shop in the basement of the consulate presented Tommy Carmellini with several problems, the most intractable of which was that the device could not be in two places at once. Kerry Kent had access to the office. Carmellini thought that if she chose to look for the player while it was missing, she would
    realize that Carmellini had lied to her, that he didn't trust her. She might even conclude that she was a possible suspect in China Bob's murder.
    The problem was that the tape player was a unique device that played a nonstandard small tape that held up to eight hours of recording, so Carmellini couldn't hope to buy one over the counter at a gadget
    shop.
    Tommy Carmellini thought about all of this as he stood in the small shop staring at the one serviceable tape player. Or was there only one? The room was chock-full of electronic components and gizmos, perhaps he just didn't know what was there. He began searching under the workbench, then worked his way to the large steel filing cabinets that stood against the back wall.
    Aha! On the top of the cabinet behind an obsolete commercial Sanyo reel-to-reel tape player was another small player that looked as if it could handle the tape from China Bob's. He got it down, blew the dust off it, sat it beside the first one. Yes. The same model, controls, etc. He plugged the thing in and found a tape in one of the drawers that looked like it would fit. When he had the tape properly installed on the reels, he pushed the Play button.
    Nothing. The thing was broken.
    Without a qualm, he put the working machine in his attache case and left the broken one in its place. There were several headsets lying around, so he selected one and tossed it into the case, too.
    He found Kerry writing a report in the office the CIA officers used. The senior man was there, Bubba Lee, schmoozing with two of the other